MediaTek unveils Helio A22 chipset, bannering the new midrange Helio A series

MediaTek is adding a new feather to its hat, and probably more feathers after that, with the launching of the Helio A22 SoC (system-on-a-chip). This new chipset will be the first for the new midrange Helio A series for MediaTek, which will attempt to bring a more feature-rich experience for midrange devices. Of course, MediaTek is also incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities with the chipset, apart from bringing better and more efficient performance.

The Helio A22 is the first of its series, and it will be launching with the upcoming Xiaomi Redmi 6A midrange phone. That smartphone has some pedigree behind it – the Redmi 5A was Xiaomi’s bestselling phone last year and beat all comers in Q1 of 2018. The Redmi 5A was powered by the Snapdragon 425, Qualcomm’s budget-friendly SoC with some oomph in its performance as well.

Judging by that alone, we should find the Helio A22 in the budget midrange market a lot this year, if the Redmi 6A performs like its predecessor did. It will have a quad-core processor with ARM’s Cortex-A53 cores, with the speed at a decent 2.0GHz. The Helio A22 is the first midrange chipset from MediaTek that will be produced via a 12nm FinFET process, which will mean better power efficiency all around. The graphics will be handled by the PowerVR GE8320 chip.

The Helio A22 will support dual cameras up to 13MP+8MP combos, or a single camera of up to 21MP. The cellular performance will be competent as well, with the A22 giving LTE Cat 7 download speeds (300Mbps) and uploads of around 150Mbps. The A22 is a dual-SIM product, supporting VoLTE on both networks.

Lastly, the Helio A22 embeds AI capabilities into the chipset, so expect the manufacturers that use the Helio A22 for their devices to be able to bring AI features into the mix. The chipset supports the latest AI frameworks, including Google Android Neural Networks API (Android NNAPI), so developers can seamlessly build AI applications for Helio A22-powered devices.

The Xiaomi Redmi 6A is the first phone to use the Helio A22, and it is already available in China at a price of around USD$110. This gives you an idea of the market in which the Helio A22 will be found.